Allrighty guys,

My CB is installed and powerd up.

I get occasional transmissions, and some pretty off the wall conversations, and even cartels hogging the channel.

The problem is...

It goes in and out...

I have a RS Whip antenna/spring coil, coax cable is tight to the radio, with the excess coiled up along my fuse panel to the left of my radio.

I'm wondering if the connections are bad with the spring...

IS there a way to test this?

Thanks in advance..













Antenna tie down is temporary, and is only for getting it out of the way of drive ways, etc.

 

Should I go with a firestix instead of the whip?

I was kinda hoping to go for the military look, but if it isn't going to perform as I hoped...

 

do not coil up the excess coax cable, spread it out

 

Is that part of the problem?

I've heard other people say to coil it up close to the radio...

Will try it... ty.

 

Nope...I've heard many times before that coiling up the excess cable is the ONLY way to store it properly, without causing signal degradation. The only way to test your set up is with CB tuner. See if the local CB shop will give you a quick tuning next time you're over there, and you may find you need to adjust the tip of your antenna (if applicable).

 

Hmm.. now to find a place that does it near by..

lol...

Kinda in a place where I gotta travel everywhere for anything...

 

Well if you're up for it, search Ebay for a good used SWR meter and learn how to tune it yourself. Does your antenna even have an adjustable tip?

 

put a 2ft peice of rubber hose over the whip and that may help caz it could be grounding out and if u can get me pick of the bottom of the mount and the spring could be grounding out so put some electical tape around it

 

dont know how to help with that, but sweet looking antenna mount

how is it holding up for ya?

 

I guess that is your handywork, huh Alon? It looks great, indeed. Based on my view from the pictures, it's holding up very well! It looks corporate!

 

Do not coil the coax as that will degrade the performance by inducing inductance between the radio and antenna.The metal holddown clip is shorting the antenna to ground which makes the your reception come and go.The original holddown clips for whips mounted to the rain gutters and had plastic with a hole in the shape an upside down antique keyhole. The ball at the end of the whip would catch in the plastic.
Your setup will be ok as long as you don't transmit with the antenna tied down.
Keep an eye on the mount below the spring as those were made for a shorter/lighter antenna (not the bracket,the piece with the plastic).It may tend to loosen.

 

What do you mean by the antenna is grounding out?

I put on a lock washer in between the antenna and the spring, and it started receiving EXCELLENTLY, but when I came out 4 hours later it was back to it's norm.

Now if the signal is close or strong, I don't have a problem getting it, it's some of those weaker signals that my antenna still picks up that I can't understand anything they are saying, only in bits. (And it isn't how their talking it's the interuption.)

The hold down clip, AGAIN, is only for stowing away the antenna, not for radio use...

Also, should I put petroleum jelly on my antenna connections?

 

Oh come on guys...

Noone loves me.. :( lol..

 

take a multi meter and check the continuity between the center conductor and the outer, at the mount. just take coax off and put one lead at center pin and other lead on threaded part should not make a electrical circuit. then test from the whip with one lead to the grounded mount with the other lead.

something is shorting out. it can be many things,

radio (least likely - but does happen)
coax with a broken center conductor or sheild, heck they could grounding out to each other (not uncommon)

antenna mount grounding out somewhere or not grounded enough (most likely)

its a process of testing all the possibility's. hell one bad solder joint can cause you a headache just trying to find the problem. but your saying it goes from perfect receive to krap receive. sounds like a intermintant connection somewhere. probe the thing it will come up.

 

Disassemble the antenna mount.Look closely at the plastic washer.It should have a shoulder on one side.The shoulder must fit into the hole in the bracket.If not you'll have to enlarge the hole.It sounds like the center stud may be touching the bracket and shorting to ground..Also you should not need a lockwasher between the ant. and spring.
As justin said , check continuity from the whip to the outer coax connector.Grab the top of the spring and wiggle it around.There should be no continuity.

 

Thanks guys.. will work on it!

 

Looks like I was getting intermitent ground on my bracket.

I went ahead and grounded it all the way and it seems to be working better..

Got a few transmissions from the highway, but I havn't gotten out on the road with it yet.

 

Thats my next project,

re-sizing the hole on the bracket..

Is that for stability reasons or insulation etc?

 

The stud that goes through the bracket must not touch the sides.That would only ground your antenna.The plastic washer insulates the antenna from ground.

 

Gotcha..

That explains the problem I'm still having..

While I recievie with less interuption I'm still getting bad transmissions..

 

I had a really bad swr it turned out my antenna was too long even when the tip was removed ... with a spring it was impossible to get below 3 . I took a hacksaw to it and that helped . I also made sure plenty of metal was in contact to ground the mount and that helped..... my swr is now like 1.2 on channel 20 , but when recieving singals they often fade in and out all the time . you have to remember the other people are moving and if they drive infront of a large building or into a canyon ect it cuts in and out. if you turn the squelch down to let everything in then signals cut out less but you hear too much noise and distant transmissions. turn it up a little more and it cuts out anytime the other people go under a bridge etc .

sounds to me like it might be working fine.

 

I'm waiting for my SWR meter...

 

oh and i'm running the same mount as you with 18' coax and 4' wilson flex whip

 

Just to humor me,Look at the writing printed on the coax.Do you see a 58u or 58au on it.

 

Checking for you OTR...

58U